Nightmare
by YukueFumei
Summary: Kuroko and Kagami end up in an accident. They have to learn to live with the consequences. Especially Kuroko has a hard time to recover himself.
1. Chapter 1

**Normally I write short stories, but I thought I'd try something different. This story will end up being 5 or 6 chapters (maybe more?) and I've decided to try and update at least once every two weeks. I will do my best to keep it up!**

**I don't know if I should put up a warning, but this story is mainly angst.**

******Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroko no Basket.**

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I looked up at the building that they called the hospital. I had never liked it before with its stench of disease, disinfectants and most of all death. But since that day I had come to hate the hospital. Every time I had to enter the hospital I put on an imaginary mask. It was to keep myself from falling apart or from going insane. I had lost count of how many times I had dragged myself through these front doors. Usually Kise, Aomine or one of my senpai would go with me when I visited the hospital. It didn't make it less hard to enter the building, but it gave me a bit of strength. However today I had come here on my own. I hadn't been here by myself in quite some time and it seemed harder than usual to put my foot over the threshold.

I took a deep breath and finally carried on my way towards the hospital room that had become too familiar. The door of the room was already open, no need to knock. Without sound I entered the room. I didn't greet Kagami, the only occupant of this room. I was afraid I would start crying if I opened my mouth. Quietly I sat down in the chair beside his bed.

Kagami had just glanced at me as I had entered the room. I was sure he was aware of my emotional state, which was probably why he didn't say anything either.

"Kuroko," Kagami finally said after some time. "The weather seems nice, I want to go outside. Can you take me to the park please?"

"I'll go get a wheelchair," I answered with a small voice. I tried not tearing up. I had promised myself not to cry in front of Kagami. If anyone wanted to cry it should be Kagami. After all, if it hadn't been for me he would never have needed that stupid wheelchair.

Outside in the park the birds were chirping. Announcing it would be spring soon, even though there were no signs of it yet. We walked on silently, the only noises the birds, my footsteps and the sounds of the wheels on the pavement. It wasn't supposed to be like this, I thought as I pushed Kagami's chair looking at the backside of his head. He was supposed to walk beside me. Or if we couldn't have that, I was the one who should be sitting in that chair.

"Kuroko," Kagami suddenly spoke up interrupting the sounds of nature around us. "There's an empty bench over there, let's take a rest?"

Once again I hold my tears back. Kagami didn't need a break at all, yet he was talking like he needed it more than me. Don't cry, I told myself.

I parked the wheelchair beside the bench, before I took place next to Kagami. Again we both didn't speak. In the distance I could hear children playing now, making me realize the world was moving on as we sat here. The world just keeps on moving without us, because to us the world had ended on that day.

"This morning, the doctors visited me again," Kagami suddenly said.

No. I don't want to hear it.

"They had some test results with them."

Don't say it.

"One of the doctors had this long speech, never saying anything about the results. In the end I yelled at him," Kagami gave a short laugh.

Please don't say it.

"And then they told me the bad news."

Don't confirm what we both already knew from the beginning.

"I'll never walk again," Kagami finally said.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn't control them. Kagami would never walk beside me again. I would never again have trouble keeping up with him because he was walking too fast. He would never be standing there outside the locker room, waiting for me to finish changing. I would never play basketball with him again. I would never see Kagami play basketball again. The sight of him jumping on the court, reaching so high and staying in the air for such a long time like gravity had decided to let go of him. I would never see any of it again.

"Kuroko?" Kagami's voice made me turn my head.

What I saw on his face puzzled me. He was smiling.

"Thank you for crying for me," Kagami petted my head as he told me. "To be honest, I haven't cried even once. Doctors told me I should talk with a psychologist. Apparently they think I'm mentally in such a shock I cannot even cry. But I don't feel like crying at all. It's because Kuroko has been crying for me."

I couldn't answer. It was true, I had cried a lot. When Kagami wasn't looking, in the bathroom , on the corridor just outside of his room. Also at home or when I was with Kise or Aomine. I had been crying so much I wondered if I would ever stop. How many tears could a body produce?

"Since that day I already knew I would never walk again," Kagami told me. "The doctors tried to be optimistic, but I could tell from my body. It's frustrating, but I'm glad I could save Kuroko's life."

"It's my fault," finally the truth came out of my mouth. The thing I had been most scared of to put into words. "It's all my fault, I should be in that chair. If only that day I hadn't been selfish. If only I had never asked you to buy me that vanilla ice cream on the way back. If only we had left the department store soon after buying your new shoes."

"Kuroko, I don't blame you."

"I know, " I sniveled. "I know, but I can't stop blaming myself. I'm reliving that day every night. This nightmare just won't end."

Kagami threw his arm around my shoulder. The hug was kind of awkward with the distance of the wheelchair and bench between us, but it felt comforting.

"Kuroko, you need to wake up. The nightmare is already over. Things will change now that I'm bound to this chair, but we're still alive and that's what matters. Both of us, we need to move on with our lives, we can just start over again."

I gave a small nod. Somewhere deep inside me I knew Kagami was right. It was time to move forward. Just like entering this hospital, I just had to walk past that threshold.

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**How did Kagami end up like this? Find out next chapter what happened!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So here it is, the second chapter after exactly two weeks. I feel like my grammar is all over the place in this chapter. I'm sorry, I might fix (minor) things over the next few days.**

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The sunlight that was coming through the glass felt so warm even though it was still cold outside. It was nice. Kagami's bed was really soft too, supporting my head and arms. Kagami was reading a book. I had watched him turning the page now and then, but the image was getting vague. My eyelids felt heavy, I was so tired. It couldn't hurt to take a nap for a few minutes.

As I closed my eyes the vague images of a department store appeared. No, not again. Stop, wake up. I tried waking up, but my body refused. The sleep deprivation was taking its toll on me. Vaguely I felt someone put his hand on my head, ruffling my hair.

Kagami...wake me up, please! I tried voicing my thoughts but I couldn't. My mind slowly drifted away from my body. It carried me back to that day. Making me relive everything in such vivid colors, like I was in the department store again.

"Thank you for shopping with us," The cashier smiled friendly at Kagami as he bought his new pair of shoes.

"Now let's get that ice cream of yours," Kagami told me. "Wasn't it famous or something? I'd like to try it too."

"It's not famous, it's a limited edition they sell only in summer," I answered a bit annoyed. I felt like Kagami hadn't really listened to my explanation a few moments ago.

"So where do we get this ice cream?"

We entered the elevator where I pushed the button for the basement. "The supermarket on the basement floor."

The lift doors opened to a pretty big supermarket. Even though it was a weekday it was bustling with people. Kagami followed me as I immediately headed for the frozen food section. All of a sudden a low rumble could be heard. It was a sound that was out-of-place for a supermarket. I stopped in my tracks, the ground had started to feel uneven. The shelves beside us moved, slightly swaying along to the moving ground.

"Earthquake?" I asked.

"Looks like it," Kagami answered. Calmly he put his hands against the shelf, preventing it from topping over. "Quite a big one."

Withing seconds things started falling down the shelves. Sounds of falling products and breaking glass could be heard all around the grocery store. Especially the sound of breaking glass was eminent, the wine section was close to where we were standing after all. In the background that happy tune of the department store was still playing, completely out-of-place in a situation like this.

A loud crack above our heads made us both look up simultaneously.

"The ceiling…" I gasped as a crack was clearly visible.

As I was staring at the ceiling Kagami didn't hesitate one second. He threw himself on top of me, sort of sliding both our bodies towards the nearest pillar due to the force of his jump. I remember thinking I didn't want to get all sticky from the goods that had fallen out of the shelves, but I never got to finish my thought. It took less than a second for the ceiling to collapse. Everything turned black. I gasped for air, but breathing got difficult due to the amount of dust. I think I even screamed, not out of fear, but to overrule all the noises around me. But maybe it was also fear. The sounds of the building collapsing, but most of all the screams of other people. They were so terrifying, I couldn't help but scream along with them.

Silence took over. The silence came just as sudden as the chaos with all it's noise.

Several times I had woken up from this nightmare at this point. But not today. I was a prisoner of my sleep deprivation. I could feel someone shaking my body, probably trying to wake me up. But today I couldn't escape from this nightmare. My body was set on having me relive this entire nightmare.

I groaned, but my throat hurt so much I immediately regretted it. No I hadn't groaned because of my sore throat, it felt like my head was going to split into two.

"Kuroko?" Someone was calling my name I thought.

No, the pain in my head was more important. I tried touching it with my hand, only to find I couldn't move my hand. Something was pressing down on me, keeping me in place. Alarmed I opened my eyes, I couldn't move my body! My panic only grew stronger as iat was dark around me. I couldn't see anything, I must have gone blind! desperately I tried to move, anything would be fine. ny part of my body that could confirm I wasn't paralyzed would help!

"Don't struggle!" I recognized Kagami's voice. I could hear his breathing, almost as if he was next to my ear.

"Kagami, what's going on?" I stopped my struggle, but the panic in my chest hadn't settled. I was continuously blinking my eyes. They were burning and it hurt every time I blinked, but I couldn't stop my body from trying to make something out of this pressing darkness.

"The building collapsed," Kagami answered somewhere just above my ear. "We got trapped."

We got trapped? How much time had passed? How long had we been here? My breathing became irregular, was it just me or was breathing becoming more difficult? My head was killing me. It was only a matter of time before I would die from this headache, I could tell by my body. I was already so cold. I gasped for air, if that headache wouldn't kill me I was going to die from suffocation. I needed to get out of here. Did anyone know we're down here? No, we didn't tell anyone we would visit the department store after school. Nobody. Nobody is coming to save us.

"Kuroko calm down," it sounded more like an order than comforting words. "Try to breathe more carefully, you're wasting our air like this. We don't know how much oxygen is left in this trapped space."

"H-how can you be so calm?" My breathing was still a lot faster than usual.

"Because I thought you were dead," I felt Kagami's hand on my cheek. So he could move, if only just a little. "You were out of it for so long and you feel so cold. I was really scared being on my own. Just now when you woke up it gave me a bit of hope. You're not hurt, right?"

"I don't know, my head hurts a lot. What about Kagami?"

I could hear him hesitate, gulping down the dry and dusty air. "I'm okay, I just…I can't feel my legs."

"But, they don't hurt right? It's good, isn't it?" I asked even though we both knew otherwise. Kagami wasn't stupid, neither was I. If he couldn't feel his legs he must have injured his spine when the building collapsed. I silently prayed this wasn't the case.

"Yeah, it's nothing." Kagami answered.

I couldn't judge the injury of Kagami due to the darkness, but I could tell that he was in a much worse condition than me. Suddeny my headache didn't seem as important anymore. This isn't a time for panic. I needed to think of a way to get help for Kagami as soon as possible.

Slowly I tried moving different parts of my body. Just to see how much space I had to move. I realized I could at least turn my head. As I did, I tried looking for a beam of light. A way out, just a small stroke of light would be enough! There was nothing. Only darkness.

Minutes passed as we both didn't say a word, occupied with our own thoughts.

"It's quiet huh?" I finally said.

"It is."

"Do you think they're coming to rescue us?"

"They will," Kagami answered with a determined voice.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Idiot, this is Japan! You never watched those documentaries on TV? They have the most advanced technologies over here that they can use after an earthquake. It'll be only a matter of time before they find us."

"You're right," I answered not wanting to argue at this point. It was clear Kagami had not given up hope. Me on the other hand, I had given up. Nobody knew of our whereabouts. They wouldn't look for us beneath the rubble of a department store. It was only a matter of time before we'd die of our injuries. Or worse we might even die because of hydration. Trapped in this godforsaken place without means to drink. We could also get crushed to death. It wouldn't be strange for this pile of concrete to collapse during an aftershock or when machines started cleaning the site. Actually I'd prefer it if the remains of this building would collapse on top of us. At least it would make our death quick. I knew I shouldn't have these dark thoughts, but I just couldn't stop them.

A sudden buzz on my chest almost gave me a heart attack. The buzz in my chest pocket didn't stop.

"My phone!" I gasped, but I couldn't reach it.

"Let me try," Kagami grunted, trying to move his arm downwards. I could feel his hand on my shoulder. "Aaaaaargh! Don't hang up on us now!"

I held my breath, hoping to create more space for Kagami to move his hand. It seemed pointless, but there wasn't much I could do. I felt his hand near my breast pocket now.

"Damn it, I can't see!" Kagami blurted out.

"Just a little lower," I encouraged him.

The buzzing of my phone stopped. The person who had called had given up on reaching me. I felt that Kagami had stopped reaching for the phone. That phone call had become our hope, our chance to escape, but we had let go of it.

"DON'T GIVE UP!" I yelled, but I regretted my loud voice as a few pebbles rained down on our bodies. Better not to make any noise. "We can call 119!"

Kagami cursed. "I know! But I can't reach it!"

I felt his hand pressing down on my chest with more force. Slowly his fingers were reaching down. Effectively winning an inch every second. Kagami's fingers finally reached inside the pocket, wrapping them around the phone.

"I got it!" He told me what I already knew.

"Don't drop it," I said almost breathless.

Kagami pulled his arm back, removing the pressure of his arm from my chest. The phone lit up as he pushed the only button on my smart phone. I had to squint my eyes against the sudden brightness, but it also gave me a moment to assess our situation. Unlike what I had thought, it wasn't Kagami who was pressing me down. I couldn't see my body below my chest, but I seemed trapped beneath a massive block of concrete. Kagami was lying on his stomach next to me, most likely trapped beneath the same concrete block. Seeing that my figure was smaller, Kagami's body must have taken the impact when the ceiling came down on us. His arm was resting beside my head now, but he had probably used it to cover my head. Kagami gave me a weak smile as our eyes met. Kagami was definitely in worse state than I thought.

"So I got the phone, but I can't put it near my ear," Kagami said judging our situation too. "Now what?"

"Put it on speaker," I replied.

Kagami struggled with the swipe lock. Having only a touch screen was a disadvantage of smartphones. It isn't easy holding the phone and using the touch screen with the same hand.

"Where's the speaker button?" Kagami asked me as he finally managed to unlock the display.

I thought about it, I had never actually used speaker on my phone. "When you try calling someone?" I answered a bit uncertain.

"Argh, damn it curse these smart phones! I'll just call 119, even if they don't get answer maybe they can track it down to our location."

Just as Kagami was struggling with the touch screen it started buzzing again. Kagami nearly dropped it in a reflex.

"It's Kise," I read on the screen. "Hurry, pick it up!"

"I'm trying!"

"Ah, Kurokocchi?" I heard Kise's voice quite distantly. Somehow Kagami had managed to press the answer button.

"Press the speaker button!"

"Shut up! Which one is it?"

"Kuroko?" Kise had dropped the ~cchi, he must have realized something was wrong.

"My ear!" I practically yelled at Kagami now. "Put it next to my ear!"

"I know! I just can't move that quickly!" Kagami yelled back at me.

Our fight caused more dust to rain down. It stunned both of us, momentarily ceasing our verbal fight. At last Kagami managed to put the phone next to my ear. This phone call was our only hope, our only chance to contact the outside world.

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**I hope you're enjoying the story so far? Next chapter the story will switch to Kise's point of view. Hope to see you in two weeks!**


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